Receiving a rejection for your game on Steam is a blow for any developer, but when that game is a text adventure, the last thing you'd expect is for it to be classed as pornography. However, that's exactly what Steam decided when reviewing Seemingly Pointless' game You Must Be 18 or Older to Enter.

The game is described as an indie horror by James and Joe Cox, the two brothers who make up Seemingly Pointless. The description on itch.io simply reads "You're alone at home, and you heard about this thing called porn at school." And here's the trailer, which gives very little away:

There is also a second teaser trailer offering a much clearer idea of why this could be classed as pornography. Be warned this video contains NSFW ASCII art and audio.

As James Cox explains in a Gamasutra post, You Must Be 18 or Older to Enter managed two months on Steam before it was delisted. Cox wasn't informed of the delisting by Steam, instead a potential player got in touch saying he couldn't find it after asking for a key. The game was free to download and play on Valve's digital distribution service.

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Where You Must Be 18 or Older to Enter seems to have come unstuck is through its use of ASCII art to depict pornographic scenes, even though they aren't really porn. Cox explains that, "there is semi-NSFW content. We make use of ASCII filters to blur naked bodies. By using ASCII art, it's hard to fully interpret any image in the game. You can generally understand that something naughty is going on, but you won't "get" the picture. Those images are also accompanied by "game beeps and moans" giving a further suggestion of watching porn, but it's not technically porn.

It seems unlikely the Steam delisting will be reversed, but that doesn't render the game unplayable. Seemingly Pointless also lists it on GameJolt and itch.io. If anything, the Steam ban helps. Had you heard of this game or developer before today? No, neither had I.

About the Author

Matthew is PCMag's UK-based editor and news reporter. Prior to joining the team, he spent 14 years writing and editing content on our sister site Geek.com and has covered most areas of technology, but is especially passionate about games tech. Alongside PCMag, he's a freelance video game designer. Matthew holds a BSc degree in Computer Science from... See Full Bio

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